Return water metering device



Sept. 13, 1932. T. KELLY RETURN WATER METERING DEVICE Filed April 15, 1929 v 13706703272": TfiomsKeZZy, g a d 917" V 7 eflfiys.

Patented Sept. 13, 1932 THOMAS KELLY, OF NORTH LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS RETURN WATER METERING DEVICE Application filed April 15, 1929. Serial No. 355,027.

This invention aims to provide a device for accurately metering steam condensation and for delivering the same to a selected point for use over again.

In the accompanylng drawing, wherein 1 have shown merely for illustrative purposes one embodiment of the invention,

7 Fig.- 1 is a front elevation of the metering device; 1

Fig.2 is a detail section of the seam applying valve of the device;

Fig. 3 is a detail vertlcal section through a water supply valve, parts of which are broken away to save space;

Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section through a fluid pressure supplying valve and its operating mechanism; and

Fig. 5 shows in plan view the operative connections between the counter mechanism and float. J

In the particular embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the drawing, 1 is a casing or trap made desirably egg-shape in form to withstand high pressures, said casing having an extension 2 atone side for containing pivotal mountings for a float 4 arranged incasing 1.

The casing 1 is supported upon a pipe 5 secured at itsupper end in the bottom of said casing and at its lower end in a base 6. The supporting pipe 5 desirably has communication with the casing 1 and constitutes a discharge pipe therefor, and inserted in this pipe is a suitable discharge valve 7 from which a pipe 8 conveys the water discharged from said casing to any suitable discharge point as for example to a steam generating,

plant not shown in the drawing. Also connected with the casing at the top, is a pipe 10- through which water is delivered to said casing, and for controlling this supply of water to the casing, I provide in said pipe 10 an inlet valve 12 of any suitable design and herein com rising a valve proper 14 having a stem 16 see Figs. 1 and i 3) slidable in a suitable packing glad 18 and bearings 20 and 22. The outer end of the stem 16 is attached to the center of diaphragm 24 secured between flanges 28,and carried 1, desirablyrespectively by the housing 26 of the valve 12 and a cap 32, which flanges are bolted or otherwise firmly secured together and against opposite edges of said diaphragm.

The cap 32 is chambered at 33 and with said diaphragm forms a compression chamber 35. The outer end of the valve rod 16 engages said diaphragm 24 and is arrangedto be operated by deflection thereof upon admittance to said chamber 33 of any suitable pressure fluid. In the present examplepressure fluid from street water pressure is desirably employed, this being supplied through a pipe 34 tapped into the cap 32. The valve 14 is normally held open by a spring 36 ena circling the valve stem 16 between the bearing member 20 and a collar 38 secured to said stem, but when pressure fluid is admitted to the hollow cap 32 against the upper side of said diaphragm, the latter will be deflected 79 causing the valve 14 to descend and engage its seat 15 in the valve housing 12, thus completely shutting off the flow of water to the casing l'as long as said pressureis maintained. I 4 Q The discharge valve 7 hereinbefore mentioned is also arranged to be automatically operated by pressure fluid and to this end is provided with a diaphragm 40 secured'between flanges 42 and 44. The flange 42 forms go a part of a frame 46 carried by the housing of the valve 7, while the flange 44 constitutes the rim of a chambered cap 48 secured to the flange 42 against the rim of the diaphragm 40, said diaphragm. 40 and cap 48 forming a 8.) pressure chamber 49. A fluid pressure supply pipe 50 is secured to said cap and desirably receives its supply of pressure fluid from the same source that supplies the pipe 34, as will be more fully hereinafter described. The valve 7 has a valve rod 52 extending outwardly through a suitable pressure tight gland 54 to the diaphragm 40 to which it is secured in any appropriate manner, and by means of which'saidvalve may be operated by the admittance of pressure fluid. to the interior of the cap 48 against said diaphragm. The valve 7 is normally held in closed posi-. tion against its seat by a spring 53 arranged y in a spring housing 55 attached to the housing of the valve 7 and into which projects a piston 57 from the valve, see for example the construction shown in Fig. 2. The casing 1 is supplied with steam pressure at appropriate times through a steam supply pipe 56, the passage of steam through said pipe being controlled by a steam valve 58 shown in section in Fig. 2, and desirably embodying a. valve disk 60 normally seating in the wall 62. A valve stem 64 extends from said valve disk outwardly through a steam tight packing gland 66 and bearing 68 carried by a flange 70, and is secured at its end to a diaphragm 72 clamped between the flange and a flange 74 of a cap plate 76. The cap plate 76 is desirably recessed and with the diaphragm forms a pressure chamber to which pressure fluid is supplied through a pressure pipe 78 communicating by pipes 80, 82 and 84 with the pressure pipes 34 and 50.

The valve 60 is normally closed, it being held closed by means similar to those employed in closing the valve 7, namely by the spring 53 acting upon a valve rod extension 57 see Fig. 2. It has previously been stated that the pressure supplied to the several diaphragm valves herein described is for convenience derived from city pressure water pipes although it is not limited to such a source, and in order automatically to supply this pressure at the proper time I provide a control valve 86 communicating with the pipes 82 and 84 through a pipe 88. The valve 86 obviously may be of any suitable type but 3 in the present example I have shown in Fig. 4 a slide valve 90 having a port 91 arranged to align with ports 92 and 94 communicating respectively with the pipe 88 and a pipe 96 leading to the main water supply system. The valve 90 has a stem 98 extending outwardly from the valve. housing 86a through suitable packing 100 and is operatively connected at its outer end with a slotted yoke 102. A pin 104 extends through the slotted yoke 102 and is arranged to slide therein a limited amount, and during its sliding movements to open and close the valve 90 whereby communication with the city pressure system may be controlled. The movements of the pin 104 in the yoke 102 may be varied by means of a screw 106 adjustably secured in the end of the yoke 102 and by the adjustment of the screw the opening and closing of the valve 90 may be advanced or retarded as desired. The pin 104 is carried by a rocker lever 108 secured to the end of a rock shaft 110 journalled to rock in the bearings 112 in the side walls of the extension 2 of said casing 1.

The float 4 in the casing 1 is mounted on an arm 114 which arm is in turn secured to the shaft or spindle 110, whereby when said float is moved up and down in said casing by the rising and falling of water, the shaft 110 will be rocked and during this rocking move ment impart at least a part of the rocking movement to the valve 90 through the yoke 102 and connected parts. When the valve 90 is opened the city pressure will act upon the several diaphragms to cause valves operatively connected thereto to be opened or closed as the case may be. i

The lower end of the casing of the valve 86 is provided with a discharge pipe 116 (see Fig. 4) leading from said valve to any suitable receptacle or discharge point for the purpose of carrying ofl the discharged water from the pressure system. This discharge of water is controlled by the valve 90 which is provided with a port- 118 for providing communication, through the port 92, between the discharge pipe 116 and the pressure system including the pipes 34, 80, 78, 82, 84 and 50, in other words, with that side of the pressure system including the several diaphragm valves. Thus when the pressure from the city service side of the valve 86, as represented by the pipe 96, is cut ofl by closing the valve 90 the water remaining in all pipes connected with the diaphragm chambers will escape and relieve said diaphragms from pres sure, permitting them to be returned by their respective springs to their normal positions. On the side of the casing 1, I preferably provide a water gauge 120 which shows the actual levels of water within the casing and associated with said water gauge is a graduated scale 122 which correctly indicates the volume, in pounds, of the water levels at given levels in said casing. v A pointer 124 is adj ustably secured for example by thumb screw 126 to a guard rod 128 for the gauge 120, and is set at the high water level or point at which the instrumentalities for ejecting the water from the casing takes effect. For convenience the graduated plate 122 is secured to a guard rod 130 at the opposite side of the gauge 120 from that upon which said pointer 126 is arranged. By means of these graduations the contents in pounds of the casing may be accurately determined at a glance, although the invention is not limited to these measurements in pounds. For example the plate is shown with graduations running from 50 to 70 pounds and the pointer 126 is set at the mark indicating 59 pounds, which :5

has been found to be the quantity collected in this particular casing at the high water mark indicated at a and at which level the various valves will be automatically operated to eject the water therefrom.

In order to measure accurately the total amount of water passing through thecasing 1, I provide means for counting the number of ejections of water from said casing. To this end each time the rocker arm 108 of Fig. 5 is rocked by the float 4, an arm 132 bearing a spring pressed finger 134 swings to the right and'engages an arm 136 carried by the shaft 138 of acounter mechanism 140. This counter is of the usual well known type having for example six disks 144 each having upon its periphery ten numbers from 0 to 9, and each oscillation of the arm 106 causes the first disk 144 to move one numeral, forexample from Q to 1, and ten successive movements of the disk 144 cause the second disk in the series to move one unit, and so on throughout the several disks until 999,999 counts have been registered, when it starts a new series. The spring finger 34 allows for limited variations in the throw of the lever 108, the spring 146 behind said finger-yielding according to the amount of variation in said throw, said spring being stiff enough to cause the lever 136 to swing until the extent of movement thereof is reached when said spring will yield and permit idle movement of the arm 108- beyond that point.

In view of the foregoing arrangement of pipes and the construction set forth, any condensation of steam passing through the pipe 10 to the casing 1 will be collected in said casing until a predetermined level is reached, which level may be determined by the adjustment of the screw 106 to advance or retard contact between said finger 104 and the screw 106,

During the collection of condensation in the casing the valve 12 will naturally be open and the valve 7 closed, so that none of the water collected in the casing will escape until the Ivater therein has reached its designated leve the point indicated by the pointer 124 the finger 104 will gradually move down as shown in Fig. 4 until it strikes the lower end of the slotted yoke 102, whereupon further movement thereof causes the port 91 inthe valve 90 to re ister with the ports 92 and 94. When this l'iappens pressure from the pipe 96 will be permitted to. enter the series of pipes, including the pipes 88, 78, 50 and 34, leading to the various compression chambers of the diaphragm valves, causing the valve 12 to close and prevent further condensation water from entering the casing. The valve 7 will also be opened and efl'ect the discharge from the casing, allowing the same to pass through the pipe 8 to the boiler or any determined point of discharge for said water. Simultaneously with the closing of the valve 12 and the opening of the valve 7 the valve 58 will be automatically opened to admit steam from the pressure pipe 56 into the casing 1 to eject all the water contained in said casing 1 through the discharge valve 7 and pipe 8. During this ejecting of the waterfrom'the casing 1 the float 4 will gradually fall to its lower position inthe casing 1, causing the pin 104 on the rocker arm 108 to gradually move upwardly in the slot in the yoke 102 until it reaches the end of said slot whereupon it moves said yoke and valve 90 to again out 01f communication between the As said Water rises-in the casing to city pressure pipe 96 and the pipe 88 communicating with the several diaphragm valves, and at the same time to open the automatic shutting oft of the steam pressure by closing the valve 58, the closing of the discharge valve 7 and the opening of the water supply valve 12, thereby placing the entire system in its original condition for refilling of the casing 1, and as condensation water reaches the indicated level therein, the ejecting operation will be automatically repeated.

It will be apparent that with the foregoing system the amount of water passing through the pipe 10 will be accurately measured because there is no chance for any unmeasured water to enter the casing 1 after the valve 12 has been closed,"nor will there be any escape of water from the casing through the valve 7 during the filling of said casing, and only live steam will be admitted to the casing through the valve 58 to eject what water has collected therein, and as this action is but a momentary action any water added to said casing from the source Will'be negligible.

To determine the total quantity of water passing through, the casing 1 the number of operations indicated by the counter 140 need only be multiplied by the figure on the graduated plate 122 representing the number of pounds of water constituting the volume of water collected during each'successive filling of the casing.

valve normally closed in said outlet pipe,

pressure responsive means for operation of said inlet and outlet valves, a pressure sup ply pipe connected to said casing whereby pressure may be admitted from a source "of supply to discharge the liquid from saidchamber, a pressure responsive mechanism for controlling the flow of pressure through a said pressure supply pipe to said chamber,

conduits connecting. an energy supply to said valve actuating means, means for controlling the ,energy supply through said conduits to said pressure responsive mechanism and, to the actuating means for the inlet and outlet valves, and means responsive to the liquid level in said chamber for controllingsaid en-' ergy supply controlling means whereby when a predetermined level is reached by the liquid in said chamber said inlet valve will be closed, said. outlet valve will be opened and the liquid will be discharged by the pressure admitted to said chamber through said pressure supply pipe.

2.- A liquid measuring device of the class described comprising, in combination, a casing providing a measuring chamber, asupply pipe leading into said chamber, an inlet valve normally open in said supply pipe, an outlet pipe independent of said inlet pipe and leading from said chamber, an outlet valve independent of said inlet valve and located in said outlet pipe, said inlet valve being normally open and said outlet valve being normally closed, pressure responsive said pressure responsive mechanism and to said operating means for the inlet and outlet valves, and means responsive to the liquid level in said chamber for controlling said energy supply controlling means, whereby when a predetermined level is reached by the liquid in said chamber said inlet valve will be closed, said outlet valve will be opened and the liquid will be discharged by the pressure admitted to said chamber through said pressure supply pipe.

3. A liquid measuring device of the class described comprising, in combination, a casing providing a measuring chamber, a supply pipe leading into said chamber, an inlet valve normally open in said supply pipe, an outlet pipe independent of said inlet pipe leading from said chamber,"an outlet valve independent of said inlet valve and located in said outlet pipe, said inlet valve being normally open and said outlet valve being normally closed, independent fluid actuated means connected to said valves for operation thereof, a pressure supply pipe connected to said casing whereby pressure may be admit ted to discharge the liquid from said chamber, a valve located in said pressure supply pipe for controlling the flow of pressure through said pipe to said chamber and being normally closed, a fluid actuated means for operation of said valve in said pressure supply pipe, conduits connecting an energy supply to said fluid actuated means, a float means located in said chamber and operable by the rise and fall of the liquid therein, and a valve mechanism located in said energy supply conduits and operably connected to said ting the liquid to be discharged from said chamber.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

THOMAS KELLY. 

